Could a coral cookie help save the coral reefs?

THE CURRENT STATE OF CORAL

In July 2023, a heatwave spurred an unprecedented, mass coral bleaching event in Florida, which, according to The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): started earlier, lasted longer, and was more severe than any previous event in the region. A buoy off the coast of Florida reported temperatures over 101.1 degrees Fahrenheit.

THE CORAL COOKIE RECIPE

TIME: 50 Minutes + chilling

YIELDS: 15-20 Cookies

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE COOKIES

1 cup salted butter (225 grams)
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar (180 grams)
1 egg
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (422 grams)
1 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla (20 grams)
1-3 tablespoos of Spirulina (15-45 grams) depending on desired color

FOR THE SALTED CARAMEL

1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
2/3 cup heavy cream (150 grams)
1/4 tablespoon sea salt (5 grams)

PREPARATION

Step 1
In a large mixing bowl, temper your butter. Next, add and combine powdered sugar. Once combined, add flour and continue mixing. Once incorporated, add vanilla and blue spirulina. Continue mixing until your desired cookie color is achieved.

Step 2
‍Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in your refrigerator for one-hour.

Step 3
‍After one-hour has passed, remove your dough from the plastic wrap and flatten with a rolling pin until approximately ¼ inch thick.

Step 4
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Step 5
In the meantime, using your coral cookie cutter (see notes), cut your own coral-inspired shapes from the dough and place on two large-rimmed baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake your cookies for 10-12 minutes and check for desired firmness.

Step 6
As your baking tray cools, make your sea salt and caramel drizzle! Start by adding sugar to a large pot and turn stove to medium heat; avoid stirring. When the sugar is melted and reaches an amber color, slowly pour in heavy cream and stir continuously. Stir until the heavy cream is incorporated then turn off the stove.

Step 7
Stir in sea salt to taste and let sit for approximately 20 minutes or until cool. Once cool, use a piping bag for intricate designs or a spoon to drizzle the salted caramel over your coral cookies. Enjoy!

NOTE

D.I.Y. CORAL COOKIE CUTTER!

When it comes to making your very own coral cookie, there’s no shortage of inspiration! With over 6,000 species to choose from, we encourage you to do your own research to find a coral you love and use it to help you design your own coral-shaped cookie cutter!

Note: Please be careful when making your own coral cookie cutter. We recommend adult supervision for the following activity and even then, metal can be sharp! Use extra precaution when making your own coral cookie cutter as to not cut or injure yourself.

MATERIALS

INSTRUCTIONS

Step 1
Find an image of a coral you’d like to use for inspiration, a simple illustration around 2-3 inches works best!

Step 2
Using the metal sheet and your pliers, bend the metal around the outline of the image, roughly following its contour.

Step 3
Using the metal sheet and your pliers, bend the metal around the outline of the image, roughly following its contour.

Step 4
Once the metal is bent to desired dimensions and shape, use scotch tape to connect the ends of the metal together. Don’t worry–you won’t be putting your cookie cutter in the oven so the scotch tape won’t be at risk of melting into your cookies!

Step 5
Press your new cookie cutter firmly into the dough to cut out your coral cookie shapes!

DOWNLOAD RECIPE

CLOSE RECIPE

Ready to share your #CoralCookie creation?

Take to social media and share a photo or video of your coral cookie(s) using #CoralCookie.

In your caption, consider sharing why you care about the coral reefs and why others should care too (check out our homepage for a few ideas to help you get started!) When you post, don’t forget to tag @wormholetv, @girlscoutstropicalflorida, @coralrestorationfoundation, and @motemarinelab so we can check out your tasty coral cookie creations!

GO DOWN THE WORMHOLE

Ready to learn more about how you can protect our reefs? Wormhole teamed up with partners at Coral Restoration Foundation, Mote Marine Laboratory & Aquarium, and Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida to compile a library of resources that you can draw from to learn how to turn the tides for this critical ecosystem.

🎧 LISTEN

The Daily: How Changing Ocean Temperatures Could Upend Life On Earth (2024)
‍In this episode, learn how some of the most alarming consequences of climate change are hiding beneath the surface of the ocean and just how close we might be to a tipping point.

‍The Daily: Why The Coral Reef Crisis In Florida Is A Problem For Us All (2023)
‍In this episode, learn how a marine heat wave during the summer of 2023 caused the waters off the coast of Florida to warm, endangering a critical part of sea life: coral reefs.

‍How To Save A Planet: Are The Coral Reefs Really Doomed? (2022)
‍In this episode learn from marine ecologist, Julia Baum, who’s made the unlikely journey from ‘climate despair’ to ‘climate optimism’ and what–if anything– we can do to keep coral alive.
‍
‍Ocean Matters: The Future Of Coral Reefs (2021)
‍In this episode, learn from Dr. Gareth Williams who models climate change to better understand its impact on coral reefs and what may happen to them in the future.

Stuff You Should Know: How Coral Reefs Work (2012)
In this episode, learn more about the world’s largest organic structure and its symbiotic relationship between creatures about 3 millimeters long.

‍WSJ’s The Future of Everything: Why Sound Could Be Key To The Future of Coral Reefs (2022)
‍In this episode, learn about how some researchers are tuning in to how reefs sound to monitor corals’ health and maybe even make them more resilient. ‍

🎞 WATCH

Roxane Boonstra: Raising The Reef (2022)
‍After revisiting the once-vibrant coral reef of her childhood home, only to find it dying, Roxane Boonstra began working to save coral reefs in fascinating ways. In this talk, she shares her inspiring and critical work with the Coral Restoration Foundation.‍

‍Dive In With Mote Marine Laboratory
‍Visit Mote Marine Laboratory’s YouTube Channel to watch Q&As with marine biologists, learn how scientists grow coral underwater, take a tour of a coral nursery, and more!

‍Chasing Coral (2017)
‍Chasing Coral taps into the collective will and wisdom of an ad man, a self-proclaimed coral nerd, top-notch camera designers, and renowned marine biologists as they invent the first time-lapse camera to record bleaching events as they happen.

📚 READ

⭐️ Read The Article That Inspired Wormhole Episode 6: The New York Times: A Desperate Push To Save Florida's Coral: Get It Out Of The Sea (2023)

BBC: The Race To Build To Build Climate-Resilient Coral Reefs (2024)

The New York Times: The Widest-Ever Global Coral Crisis Will Hit Within Weeks, Scientists Say (2024)

The New York Times: Heat Stress Is Hitting Caribbean Reefs Earlier Than Ever This Year (2024)

The Washington Post: Corals Are Bleaching In Every Corner Of The Ocean, Threatening Its Web of Life (2024)

The Washington Post: Corals Are Under Siege. Is This The Best Way To Save Them? (2024)

💪 DO

Earn Your “Coral Reef Hero” Patch
‍Girl Scouts of Tropical Florida teamed up with the Coral Restoration Foundation to spread awareness about the challenges facing coral reefs in South Florida and how to take action to help save this critical ecosystem. Download the Activity Guide above and once complete send an email with recipient name, mailing address, and a list of completed activities to customercare@girlscoutsfl.org to earn your patch!

Go For a (Virtual) Dive With Coral Restoration Foundation™️
‍Join Coral Restoration Foundation off the coast of Florida for a VR or 360 degree dive experience as their team embarks on a typical work day of restoring coral reefs.

“What do you know about
coral reefs?”

Coral reefs have been a feature of life on Earth for around 500 million years.
Coral reefs support more than a million different species.
Coral is a colonial animal– coral colonies are made up of individual coral polyps.
Coral receive energy in two distinct ways. Most of corals’ energy is provided by their “zooxanthellae”– an alga which has a symbiotic relationship with coral. This alga lives inside coral tissues and photosynthesizes energy for them both, producing about 90% of coral’s energy and is also responsible for corals’ distinctive colors. The remaining 10% of energy is captured by coral themselves as they use their tentacles to gather food as it drifts by.

Learn more about coral here.

“How am I connected to coral
reefs where I live?”

Whether you live near the Coast, or you hail from a land-locked state, we’re all connected to coral reefs somehow. Just consider:

Nearly half a billion people around the world depend on the fish that depend on our world’s reefs for their own survival
Coral is a colonial animal– coral colonies are made up of individual coral polyps.
Nearly 200 million people depend on coral reefs to protect them from storm surges and waves
‍
So, yes, we’re all connected to reefs and the reefs depend on us to care for their long-term health and survival.

Learn more about some of the ways we’re all connected to the reefs here.

“What are the leading threats to coral reefs?”

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the top 3 threats to coral reefs are:
‍
1. Global climate change
2. Unsustainable and destructive fishing practices, and
3. Land-based pollution

These threats, combined with others such as tropical storms, disease outbreaks, vessel damage, marine debris and invasive species, exacerbate each other.

Learn more about localized and global threats to coral here and here.

“What will happen if the majority of the world’s coral reefs are lost?”

In the last 30 years, we’ve lost more than half of the world’s coral reefs. Without immediate action, all shallow water coral reefs are projected to vanish by the end of this century. Losing all of our shallow water coral reefs would be like losing every rainforest on the planet. Since humanity has never experienced the loss of an entire biome, we don’t yet know how catastrophic and complex the impacts of a loss like this would be.

What we do know is that roughly 70% of all atmospheric oxygen is produced by the ocean and coral reefs are a critical part of the balance in the sea. Losing coral reefs means:

Damage to coasts, shorelines, home, and businesses
Economic fallout from the loss of fishing and tourism,
The collapse of marine ecosystems all over the world

(Source: Coral Restoration Foundation)

“What are some of the ways I can take immediate action to protect coral reefs?”

There are countless ways to support the future of coral reefs. We encourage you to do your own research, but in the meantime we’ve compiled a few ideas to help you get started:

PURCHASE reef-safe sunscreens that are free of harmful substances on the Haereticus Environmental Laboratory (HEL) List. Here’s a helpful guide from the Surfrider Foundation.

VOTE to support candidates, policies, and legislation that advocate for the environment and are committed to reducing global carbon emissions.

REDUCE your own carbon footprint (Commons is a great resource to help you get started!)

ASK questions about your seafood. Where does it come from? How is it caught? Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch and NOAA’s FishWatch are great resources to learn about sustainable seafood stewardship.

SHARE this website with others to help them learn about the current crisis facing our coral reefs.

Download Coral Conversation Starters (PDF)

Could a coral cookie help save the coral reefs?

WHY IT MATTERS

HELP PROTECT OUR REEFS

MAKE YOUR OWN #CORALCOOKIE

THE CORAL COOKIE RECIPE

GO DOWN THE WORMHOLE

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